Empire History
I am touching up the history WIP as of 1/17/18 The Bladed Conquest Campaign The Bladed Conquest campaign started on November 1999 and stretched through September of 2005, making it the longest running campaign in all of Verdish history. Child Barbarians Long before there was an Empire or Antioch... there was a group of young kids who took up an interest in hurting one another with medieval weapons made of solid wood. One Christmas in 1998 Derath and Vathtinkai received two great-swords forged of pine. The children fell in love and immediately began battling one another. But their thirst for war could not be so easily satiated! Young and unaware, their true nature as Verditians was manifesting! Derath, empty from the monotony of simple combat, thirsted for more! He sought the aid of his father: Menoar. Menoar showed him how to craft more complicated weaponry. With every new build the arsenal became a little more deadly, finally peaking with giant two handed weaponry. (Infamously, one of the two handed axes was fully capable of felling a small tree!) Derath began recruiting friends from the neighborhood, they would meet frequently throughout the week to break one another's will.What once was 2-3 had grown to groups of 10-15! Now armed with shields, spears, bows, axes, swords, and throwing knives... these meetings always ended in injury! Your drive to be a better fighter was so you didn't go home crying for your parent's medical attention. By 2002, a warrior named Conpheric had entered the scene. He had previous experience with a fighting game called 'Dagorhir' and introduced the group to foam weapons. Surprisingly the introduction of safe ways to fight did not immediately become the focus point. For roughly a year Dagorhir and wooden weapons co-existed. But that all came crashing down one fateful day. A battle was held to celebrate the birth of Derath, fighters from all around the high-school were in attendance. They battled in the streets and in the lawns of the sub-division. The war spread far and wide and eventually lead to skirmishes in the surrounding forest. In one of these skirmishes the warrior known as Flame cast a throwing knife into the face of a local school-boy known as Dave Sheppard. Dave was wounded so profoundly that he was rushed to the hospital and required plastic surgery to bring his face back into proper order. The war continued on as soon as he was rushed away! After the war had subsided the wooden weapons of old were permanently shelved, never to see mass combat again. Universally, the warriors agreed this could not continue. Dagorhir would have to be the path for satiating the need for war. The Birth of Verdite There was much debate on how to run the group within the context of the greater Dagorhir Community. Conpheric was exposed to the chapter of Eryndor and expressed interest in assimilating into their ranks. It seemed logical, Erydnor was pushing north from Toledo and would soon engulf the Monroe area. They were woodland fighters, requiring all their members to adopt garb of the same style. Derath pushed for a sovereign chapter based on the self-created story-line and world of Antioch. His vision was strongly reinforced by Talen, a new fighter at the time. Conpheric's division of 'The Iron Plague' was very similar to the old Eryndor standards while Derath's 'Verditians' were becoming something else entirely. Eryndor was larger and Conpheric was concerned there was no possible way to keep a foothold against such an aggressively expanding group. The debate was shattered the day two warriors joined the group. Their names were Demorian and Hrazlinne. These two goth kids had a natural talent for recruitment and soon boosted the membership of Antioch dramatically. Demorian and Hrazlinne were brutal fighters, bolstering techniques that were reminiscent of the old wooden weapons. Through overwhelming aggression and strength they purged lesser fighters of the era. Recruitment skyrocketed and the demand for more weapons was an ever growing problem. Derath forged a new armory that reflected the coming revolution. All weapons were black, heavy, and built to last. Eryndor had backed away from the insane practices of pre-Antioch. These young Verdish were seen as savages to a more refined 'flick-fighting' style of Eryndor. The Purge of Havenmyr Derath was finally old enough to attend Ragnarok, so he and Menoar gathered some of the best weapons in the Verdish armory and left for war. Growing divides in the group allowed a fighter by the name of Haldor to start his own secret group. He amassed great support with the newest generation of warriors and began prepping a chapter he would call Havenmyr. Haldor was not a fan of Derath and created an entire government system that kept him from having any form of influence. (Even though Derath had constructed over 90% of the weaponry) When Derath returned: he was furious! His home chapter had devolved into casual sparring littered with rampart smoke-breaks. The average warrior standard was so low that old-Verdish warriors would be able to slaughter them without the slightest opposition. Demorian famously said "I get worse every time I fight them." This was unacceptable, so Derath enlisted the aid of Hrazlinne, Demorian, and Talen. Together they rallied the old Verditians for a grand show of force against Havenmyr. It was a bloodbath. The Havenmyr forces were torn apart by the overwhelming might of the Verdish. At the day's end Derath reclaimed all the weapons he had made, effectively crippling Havenmyr's ability to arm their warriors. Havenmyr collapsed and Antioch officially registered as a Dagorhir chapter. When Haldor attended an Antioch practice he was confronted and told that there would be no other group than Antioch. He fell silent that day and faded into obscurity shortly after. Haldor and his followers assimilated into Eryndor, effectively spawning ‘War-band’ and ‘Senegal’. The Insurrection Campaign The Insurrection Campaign started on September 2005 and stretched through August of 2006. This campaign is revered as the greatest of all campaigns spawning the true birth of Antioch and the Verditians. The Grand Conversion If there was one word that could most easily sum up this era: It would be Zeal. The Chapter ethics became dominated by a Military authoritarian structure hell-bent on the assimilation of all of it's people. With the exception of Conpheric, all remaining Iron Plague members were hunted down by the most zealous Verditians and coerced into assimilation. Not only were these members assimilated, they were forced to throw away their own identity and forge a new proper Verdish name. Ashimaru was at the forefront of assimilating all people into the Verdish. There would be no disdain, the chapter could not afford anything short of total unity. From the south Eryndor pressed it's boarders, galvanized from the influx of Havenmyr scum. Verdish militarism skyrocketed as we forged weaponry purposely designed to shatter and break the low-born Lothtarians. From the ashes of the boarder skirmishes came the mighty Kelv, a weapon that would purge any non-Verdish from the field. (interesting side-note is at the time, the entire Dagorhir community were convinced that red weapons were desperately ineffective. Almost nobody would take red hits to their shields and the Kelv was the Verdish response to this problem. Each Kelv weighed roughly 80 ounces and would actually collapse most enemies when struck) Kelm-Crafted uniforms became the norm and Antioch quickly shifted to a point where it would be most accurate to call the chapter: Verdite. A socialism based economy manifested out of necessity. Community forges were commonplace as chainmail armors began hitting the field. With the war economy in full-swing the Verdish Army was brutalizing it's enemies in every engagement. The Verdish Elite Verdish Supremacy over the Lothtarians was absolute. Antioch was achieving victory against impossible odds, peaking when the Verdish purged a Lothtarian army when they were outnumbered 5 to 1! The Verdish were brutal, so much so that many enemies of Verdite lost their taste for war early and refused to fight them ever again. This was compounded by the emergence of the Verdish Elite. Fighting styles, war-strategies, and weaponry shifted to maximize the killing potential of the most powerful Verditians. It was through this approach that Aimias discovered a way to create and supply chainmail rings to the chapter at 1/10th of the cost of what the army had paid before. This solidified the ancient and modern tradition of weekend forges, where Verditians build armor. Chainmail for those most devout became a reality. Antioch eventually attended Ragnarok showing unmatched brutality, destroying enemy shield lines and holding objectives with effectiveness that remained etched in the minds of her enemies for many years to come. The Age of Verdite Antioch had carved out its boarders and slowly drifted into isolation. Our brutal war-practices created social upheaval in the surrounding chapters. Eventually the hassle of politics outweighed our thirst for domination. The vast majority of Antioch agreed they saw little payoff in waging war with the weak surrounding forces. The council concluded it would close its boarders to the outside world, a policy that would remain in place for over a decade. The children of Verdite focused their gaze towards expansion. Many colonization attempts were crafted, but ultimately none proved effective. In our isolation the leadership of Verdite crafted another division within the chapter, to satiate our need for a worthy rival. From the story-line we crafted a chapter version of the Goddess' Legion! The Honor Campaign The Honor Campaign started on August 2006 and stretched through June of 2008. This campaign is the collection of the lifespan of policy introduced during the Insurrection Campaign. It is also the time where the Amorias Legion was born. The Amorias Legion The Legion's Law and Concept was drafted and ready for implementation! Active sign-ups were enacted and the ranks of the Amorias Legion began to fill! All that was left was to find a suitable leader. Derath picked Aimias, a prominent and powerful Verditian whose social ties in the NJROTC program looks extremely promising. Traditionally this program was always where the main influx of fighters came from. Isolation had it's consequences however, recruitment waned and Antioch leadership was desperate to rebuild the ranks. The Insurrection Campaign's shadow loomed heavily in this era. Verdite began to shift from a devouring horde to a fallen empire. Aimias was the new hope for Antioch. And from him the Amorias would rise to the challenge of the old Verdish. The Stagnation Growth from the restructure was minimal. Aimias found it difficult to recruit from the ROTC's newest generation. Many members were leaving the homeland for personal reasons and for the first time ever: an off-season was implemented, effectively ending winter practices forever. In our arrogance we failed to address the growing Lothtarian swarms surrounding our boarders. It became impossible to recruit from the general public. Hope was not lost though, the surrounding forces were becoming overrun with political strife. Fractured units became internal enemies and the surrounding chapters began to split into fleeting independent nation-states. Antioch remained watchful, never interacting, and never playing a hand. The Death of the Iron Plague Conpheric resigned from Dagorhir and so the Iron Plague was officially disbanded. Stagnation in the chapter had come to an equilibrium momentarily. Gatherings were consistent both in attendance and frequency. The Exodus Campaign The Exodus Campaign (Formally known as the Haylo Campaign) started on July of 2008 and stretched through November of 2009. The Silent Year Suffocated and isolate, the chapter faded away. Talen had left the homeland and Antioch gatherings came to a halt. Very soon it would become clear that the council would need to vote whether to dissolve the chapter or not. The Decadence Campaign The Decadence Campaign started on May of 2010 and stretched through November of 2010. This campaign was supposed to be the last of Antioch’s campaigns and operations. The irony in it was that during this time frame Antioch saw new growth. The Last Ragnarok Derath prepared for the death of his chapter with one final journey to Ragnarok. He pulled together a handful of warriors still interested in the trip. In the Exodus campaign many of them had drifted apart and found little common ground among one another. At Ragnarok, old bonds were reforged as Antioch took to the field with its tiny army and again swept through the lines of it's enemies. The embers of war had been stirred and it became clear that Decadence would not consume Antioch. The Return of the Legion The fallen kingdom awakened as the new-age zeal expanded outward! The fractured units of Eryndor lost all hold in the immediate area and Antioch took to the streets to reclaim its former glory. All new recruits entered the Amorias and the rivalry was truly underway. Weekly gatherings became commonplace again as warriors of old returned to bring life back into Antioch. Post-Decadence Post Decadence refers to any time-frame after the end of the Decadence Campaign in November of 2010. The Sarlona Contact Slowly Antioch began realizing some of their weaponry had gone missing. Small primitive arms from the golden age were hardly missed, but it started to become concerning. After some investigation, It became clear that another group of fighters had taken the relics from a forgotten war, and used them to forge a small army. They called themselves: Sarlona. Antioch leadership quickly deployed spies and informants. They found out the people of Sarlona were openly hostile towards any interaction that would threaten their sovereignty. Initial diplomatic attempts were disasters until Derath personally reached out and scheduled a meeting. Derath brought with him a small group of Elite warriors, he knew that if he did not come showing Antioch's might, that Sarlona would inevitably feel empowered to push for full sovereignty. The introductions were cold and little conversation took place. There were small skirmishes breaking out but nothing official was happening.Soon the people called for a Antioch versus Sarlona! The forces of Sarlona rallied behind their leaders: Pyrus and Sarudon. While Derath took his elite warriors aside and, in secret, told them to purge these barbarians from their field. When the lines clashed Sarlona was annihilated. But they fought bravely and never retreated from the might of Antioch. To Derath, he saw the child barbarians of old before him. He knew someday these children would make fine Antioch warriors. Desperately wanting to avoid another Havenmyr incident, Derath diplomatically approached the Sarlona leadership and offered them the chance to join Antioch and take advantage of the infrastructure. He said that with the aid of Antioch this band of children could be some of the most destructive and devastating warriors the world had ever known. Sarudon and Pyrus asked to deliberate for a week. Derath agreed and left the meeting with the other Antioch fighters. Later that night Sarlona sent word to Derath: "We will join." Unknowingly to everyone then, but that simple deal began the era of the War-Bound Campaign, the second golden age of Antioch! The War-Bound Campaign The War-Bound Campaign started on March of 2012 and ended on March 2016. The Uprising Antioch wasted no time to get their new generation ready for war! Antioch split Sarudon and Pyrus separately into the Amorias and Verdish as to solidify Antioch control. From there they drilled and trained the new recruits multiple times a week until they were worthy of an Antioch symbol. It was rare for a recruit to go into the Verdish, as all new recruits were automatically enlisted as Amorias. Soon it became synonymous that to be Amorias meant to be a second class citizen to the Verdish Elite. Even Aimias, the Lord of the Amorias made his fame as a Verditian. To the people of the Legion, they lived in the shadow of the Insurrection Era and the Verditian's culture monopoly over Antioch. The Amorias Insurrection When it came time for the Amorias to prove their might at a Ragnarok, they showed up in overwhelming force! This is often called the Amorias Ragnarok where only 4 of the members present were Verdsh. Tensions rose as rumors swept through the Legion. Dark whispers of defamation poisoned the minds of the people. And from this poison the seeds of descent festered. Key members of the Amorias secretly organized an insurrection and began plotting a take-over of Antioch. At the end of Ragnarok Derath was finally warned of the oncoming storm. With a heart full of rage Derath ranted to his Verdish allies. But the journey home was long and by the time they reached home, Derath had decided to forfeit his command over Antioch to the Insurrection. He felt if he had caused so much disdain in the people, that he had no right to rule. The supporting council objected! They decreed that the Antioch will die in the hands of the Verdish before it is ever handed over to a false insurrection! After many hours of deliberation, the council decided to simply isolate the leaders of the Amorias Insurrection. They would attempt to cut them from leadership and resolve the issues causing such discontent. The Confrontation As the members of the new insurrection were confronted, it became clear that they were not able to organize enough power to stop the counteraction of the Verdish. Asserting dominance, Antioch leadership gave them an ultimatum: "You're either one of us. Or you aren't." Most decided they were Antioch warriors still. Others faded into obscurity, never to be heard from again. Once Antioch felt they had weeded out problem members, they worked with the previous insurgents to tackle many of the issues that drove the initial divide. The Reform Antioch found itself in the midst of a social evolution to accommodate the new generation. Policy changed and clear standards were established. The Chain of command was strengthened and all standards became higher. Artallies passed his footman test, becoming the first new footman in five years. This broke the long-standing gridlock of the grunt/crusader pool, allowing other footman tier fighters to finally pass the test. Amorias and Verdish citizenship became a choice to the member in question. Instead of being assigned by Antioch leadership. Plate started to become more common in Antioch and Hrazlinne’s proposed garb reform lead to a much higher standard of uniform. Antioch was growing and sowing the seeds that would lead to the modern day tech empire. The Golden Age Even though the Amorias Insurrection was long gone. there was a lingering scent of hostility in the air. Hrazlinne advocated disbanding the Amorias and implementing in a new, full-Verdish government. Command reforms shed away the concept of "Antioch Leadership" and implemented the "Command Staff" structure. A united Verditian front was celebrated with, arguably, the most significant event in the War-Bound Campaign: The first War-Bound Generation Weapon! Antioch weaponry from this point on would be of the highest standards in Dagorhir. More projects opened and members received the greatest quality of life ever seen within the chapter. The membership growth was rapid and healthy. In this final span of the War-Bound Campaign, Antioch prepared for its greatest challenge yet: to stop being Antioch, a small town chapter. And to instead become Antioch, The Verditian Empire! The Arms Race The War-Bound era weaponry first manifested itself in the generation one katana. This new katana was faster, stronger, and all-around better than any weapon fielded by Antioch. Katanas swept through the field, defying any standards of weapon effectiveness. Shields, pikes, and reds crumbled before them. Antioch practices devolved to swarms of katana-men sweeping through any Verditian unfortunate enough to still be using equipment from an older era. When generation 2 and 3 weapons started hitting the field, the balance of powers shifted towards every new design and class of weaponry. The old European weapon variants were a thing of the past as names like tsurugi, nodachi, nagamaki, etc, became the standard. Red weaponry became supreme in Antioch once again when the first War-Bound Kelv showed its dominance over the Verditian katana. Shields and pikes all but vanished for a year as weapon tech accelerated faster than the Meta could adapt to. It was total chaos in Antioch! With generation 4 of weaponry, pikes and shields started to return to combat the rise of archery and to take advantage of their much needed design updates. The meta stabilized with the creation of generation 6 weaponry. The Priesthood In the west, Talen’s struggles to establish a functional branch of Antioch had finally taken hold! Under his guidance, the priesthood of Maechalon began with small regular practices. They luckily avoided the arms race issue by just importing batches of weaponry. from the Central lands. Maechalon’s insurrection-era weaponry were very quickly abandoned. The Reckoning Campaign The Reckoning Campaign started on March of 2016 and ended on November 2017. Maechalon Rising In the west, years of failure were about to pay off. Talen's vigilance in creating a new Veridsh army began slowly with, small practices where he'd host fights in hopes of recruitment. But that all quickly shifted to full Verdish events when Beriadann and Narryyn joined the group. Like Demorian And Hrazlinne's work of old in the mainland, Beriadann and Narryyn ushered in a new age by exposing Verdish culture to the masses. Quickly Maechalon established its boarders and became the dominant fighting force in the area. Surrounded by Lothtarian scrum, they forced outward, challenging and mocking the culture of the weak 'Norclaia' alliances. The Absent Lord Back in mainland, Derath's connection to the Netherlands and rising issues in his personal life started to become problematic. Soon he realized he was unable to lead the chapter. Derath decided to leave the group in the hands of a handful of capable Verdish. There was never a full-trade of power but as the time came for Derath to shed his responsibility to Antioch, the leadership structure began withdrawing from their responsibilities. The year was rough as leadership was distant and uncertain. Thankfully the efforts of Malak helped to ease the central-Verdite population. Derath returned back into service later that year and begun prepping for a new era. Faith in Steel With Derath's return, Antioch united and pooled large amounts of funding for the long-anticipated Steel Works. Production began immediately! A new guild was founded by the Seven Crafters, and from their labors they began bending and shaping steel to their very will. This culmination of Verdish industrialism created the first Samurai armor. Tales of it's perfect combat ability echoed through the Empire as the Crafter's Guild saw a large increase to its membership. Central stood proud as it ambitiously set in motion plans to arm the empire with Japanese armors. The Verdish Empire Back in the west, Beriadann's recruitment efforts exploded. Maehalon now rivaled the membership base of Central and showed no immediate signs of slowing down. With the coming of Ragnarok, Maechalon sent 4 Verdish to unite the branches. Instantly the two groups bonded and from this introduction the seeds of the Verdish Empire were planted. Later in the year, Derath took a trip out to Maechalon, attempting to bridge any technology gaps. He was met with total acceptance. By the time Derath returned to Central-Verdite he knew that last Ragnarok was only the beginning of a grand collaboration that now spanned nation-wide. The Crucible Campaign The Crucible Campaign started on ''December of 2017 and is the current campaign.'' Verdish Independence Dagorhir's culture shifted again to toxic manifestations of an egocentric ideology. Naturally the Verdish heavily rejected this and put forth a nation-wide vote to secede from Dagorhir. The vote was unanimous in favor of forging an independent Verdish entity that was not bound by any laws but its own. With the reform came the new armor tier-system. The Black Crusade Central Verdite's member base decided the only way to secure a thriving foothold for the founding branch of the Empire was to push outward in all directions, purging all Lothtarian that dared stand before them! Like the days of old, the drums of war were echoing throughout Central. The Lothtarians would come to fear the new steel-clad warriors of the Verdish. From the depths of isolation the Empire would return as a devouring swarm!